The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-07-30
AMONG THE MORMCNS.
The Power Which Brigham Young Exer-
. cJsed Over His Ignorant Followers.

The Power Which Brigham Young Exer-
cIsed Over His Ignorant Followers.
The great majority of the Mormons
are foreigners, proselyted in their own
country by emissaries from Utah; trans
ported by the church directly from their
own homes to Utah; kept in total igno-
rance of the vastness of the United
States and the powers and principles of
its Government; constantly imbued
with the belief that the Mormon people
are Gods chosen; that the Mormon
church is the only true church, and to
it and its priests they must be loyal even
to the disobeying of all other laws of
any land. Thus, the body of people re-
main in peaceful ignorance, while the
designing leaders have proceeded to
clothe themselves with power, gain
unto themselves riches, and build up
an empire within a republic; an empire
so united through religious fanaticism.
so strong through the possession of
money, and SO well barricaded against
national legislation by laws the Nor
mons themselves have enacted, rs citi-
zens of the Territory of Utah, that the
General Government has found it ex-
tremely difficult to prevent polygamous
marriages, and curtail the political
powers of the church without encroach-
ing upon the constitutional rights
of the Territory and its citizens.
Of tho Mormon ,oaopIa R-;cI,n,,,
Young was the animating spirit,
the self-pronounced prophet, &C
cepted and obeyed by all. Never did
man in America hold such complete
one-man power. Realizing religious
prejudice to be the strongest enter
tanned in the human heart, he worked
upon the feelings and passions of the
confding and fanatical until he had
thousands of followers who were ready
to kill the enemies of the "Church' at
his command, or at his request to die.
Before Young's ascendancy the Nor
mon Church was torn with discussions
and full of troubles. He assumed
authority and held sway OWE church
and state. He dictated the course and
policy of both, made the CHURCH SUI
preme and himself absolute monarch.
His knowledge of the world and hui
man nature was clear and b. DAD. He
was courageous, sagaclous, sudacious,
subtle, practical. magnetic, wickedly
selfish, possessing the manners of
gentleman and the spirit of fend.
He was native ruler, having the ele-
ments of great mar, yet licking the
one characteristic without which no
man is great-iustice. No Lation, no
empire, no society, no church, no state,
no life, can live in the eyes of history
as great, unless builded upon the grand
and enduring principles of justice and
truth.
The Mormon power is rapif ly declin-
ing, and will soon die away. Not be-
cause it is an organization established
upon religious faith, but because that
faith does not embrace the principles
of truth. 1t imposes injustice upon the
civilized world, by teaching practices
antagonistic to the social customs of
civilization. 1t imposes injustice upon
its own members in exacting from them
unquestioned obedience to the laws of
the Mormon church, regardless of all
other laws, ecclesiastical or civil. 1t
imposes injustice upon the women of
the church by causing them to believe
that they can gain salvation only
through husband, and that the man
with plural wives will be exalted in
Heaven, while the single man will. in
the hereafter, be debased. Cor Spring
field Mass. Republican.